


Zoroark vs. Nogitsune

by StaciNadia



Series: Sterek Bingo '19 [3]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Derek Hale & Erica Reyes Friendship, Getting Together, Happy Ending, Japanese Mythology & Folklore, M/M, Minor Scott McCall/Kira Yukimura, Nogitsune - Freeform, Pining Derek Hale, Pokemon, Pokemon References, Singing, Sterek Bingo 2019, Stiles Stilinski & Kira Yukimura Friendship, Teen Derek Hale, Video & Computer Games
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-01
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2020-04-05 19:34:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19046962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StaciNadia/pseuds/StaciNadia
Summary: Erica convinces Derek to join the Pokemon Club.





	Zoroark vs. Nogitsune

**Author's Note:**

> My third entry, and last on-time one, for Sterek Bingo 2019! This one's for the themes Games, Foxes, and Music! I was trying to think of what to do for games, and then I got the idea to use Pokemon because there are fox Pokemon like Ninetales, which reminds me of the Nogitsune! Whew! But I think it all works out well for the three themes. Feel free to listen to the Pokemon theme song while reading this! ;)

Derek was one of the few kids still roaming through the hallways after school had let out. He had never been to a club meeting before, and it was his junior year in high school. He finally came to a classroom door with a large sign proclaiming “Pokemon Club” taped to the wall next to it. Gripping his 3DS, he opened the door and went inside.

Derek Hale was not the sort of kid anyone would expect to be involved with Pokemon, or any sort of school activity. He looked like a bad boy biker who constantly skipped class with his stubble, black leather jacket, and permanently angry-looking eyebrows. His three closest friends, Boyd, Erica, and Isaac, all wore leather jackets as well, and the occasional leather miniskirt in Erica’s case, leading many people to think they were a delinquent gang. And they really weren’t. They were just nice kids who didn’t really hang out with anyone else and happened to like leather He hated those sorts of assumptions and all the glares he got when he wasn’t around his family. 

The classroom where the club meeting was taking place had about a dozen or so students milling around inside. Derek recognized Erica, of course, talking with a couple of other girls. Erica had joined the Pokemon Club a few months before and raved about the group many times when they all met up together. He thought he recognized a freshman who was in advanced classes, a guy named Mason. And then there was Stiles Stilinski, the president of the Pokemon Club, sitting on top of a desk talking to Kira Yukimura.

Derek had a crush on Stiles since freshman year. His friends all knew about it and they all tried to encourage Derek to go talk to him, especially Erica. It was she who had suggested that Derek join the club to try to talk to Stiles. “Stilinski’s pretty amazing, too,” she’d always add when she‘d been discussing the club, a huge smirk on her flashy red lips. After two years of apparently not-so-secretly pining, Derek had thought he’d finally give it a try.

He glanced over at Erica, who was winking and making a shooing motion with her hand in Stiles’ direction. _You can do it!_ she mouthed at him. He rolled his eyes but walked over to the other boy.

It didn’t take long for him to be noticed. Kira waved a little, but Stiles stared at him in surprise, abruptly stopping whatever he‘d been saying to Kira, his mouth slack. “Derek!” he managed to get out. Then, his trademark goofy grin burst onto his mole-spotted face. Derek loved that grin. “Come to learn the ways of Pokemon like Erica here?” he asked.

“You’re thrilled to have me and you know it!” Erica shouted from a few rows over.

“Sure do!” Stiles agreed. “I finally have a Catwoman to match my Batman!” He indicated Kira sitting next to him. “My vice president Kira here is more of a foxy lady, not a cat.”

Kira giggled. “I’m foxy because I use a lot of fox Pokemon, like Eevee and its evolutions!” she explained.

“And you’ve won the heart of my best bro for life!” Stiles added, then turned to Kira. “He at Deaton’s again tonight?”

Kira nodded. “Yeah, he’s working there a few hours tonight with Isaac.”

Derek knew exactly who they were talking about. Scott McCall, Stiles’ best friend since they were little, Isaac’s coworker who he hung out with sometimes, and apparently Kira’s boyfriend.

Stiles stood up then and cleared his throat. “Attention, everyone!” he called loudly, waving his arms around. “This is your president speaking!”

Everyone got quiet and turned to Stiles.

“We have a newbie here with us today!” Stiles continued. “This is Derek Hale, my fellow junior and apparently a Pokemon fan just like the rest of us! Who would have known?” He shot Derek a dazzling smile.

Derek’s heart was beating wildly from looking at Stiles‘ smile. He wanted to kiss the other boy so badly. Not on the cheek, either. Right on the lips. He tried not to blush as he grunted out a greeting to the group.

Stiles turned to Derek. “When someone new joins the club, they have to battle someone. Do you have some level 100 Pokemon? If you do, you can battle me.” He bit his lip as he looked at Derek hopefully.

Derek nodded. He’d been playing Pokemon since elementary school and had several beloved Pokemon who had been transferred from game to game over the years, like Zoroark. “I have a few, and a bunch in the 90s.”

“Excellent!” Stiles clapped his hands, his eyes gleaming with excitement. “Get a party of six level 90 or above Pokemon ready.”

Derek turned on his system and searched for his highest level Pokemon. He selected Zoroark, of course, because his favorite animal was the wolf and it was his favorite Pokemon. After picking five more of his best Pokemon, he said, “Alright, I’m ready.”

Stiles finished up fiddling with his 3DS as well. “Me, too!”

Kira and Mason started humming one of the Pokemon battle songs. Though the 3DS screens were relatively small, everyone in the club gathered around to watch the battle on either Stiles or Derek’s screen.

Derek let out a deep breath as he entered the battle arena with Stiles and selected the three Pokemon he thought would best beat Stiles’. 

**********

The battle was not going well. They were both down to their final Pokemon, Derek’s Zoroark versus Stiles’ Ninetales, who had the nickname Nogitsune. Zoroark’s HP was very low, while Ninetales had nearly full HP.

Stiles’ Ninetales used Fire Blast, knocking out Derek’s Zoroark and ending the battle with Stiles as the winner.

Everyone burst into applause. “That was a great battle!” Kira exclaimed.

“That was intense!” Mason added.

“You did really good, Derek! I’m impressed with your Pokemon!” Stiles said, looking proud.

“Thanks,” Derek said quietly. “Yours were really great, too. Your Ninetales is very strong.”

Stiles looked around to everyone. “Okay, everyone, head off to have battles or discuss new strategies!”

Everyone dispersed into groups. Kira started a battle with Mason. Erica went back to talk to the two girls from before.

When they were alone again, Stiles turned back to Derek. “This Ninetales is very special to me,” Stiles murmured, running his finger over the fox sprite on the 3DS screen.

“Does its nickname mean anything?” Derek asked.

“I named him Nogitsune. It means 'wild fox' in Japanese. I thought that sounded really cool. Hey, this was in middle school!” he added, pointing his finger in Derek’s face.

“I didn’t say anything!” Derek said, holding his hands up innocently.

“But you’re smirking!” Stiles pointed out, but he was grinning, too. “Anyway, the fox is totally my spirit animal because I love a good prank and I’m a sneak and stuff, so I thought it was the perfect Pokemon.”

“You get this sly look on your face sometimes, too,” Derek added.

“Been watching me, Derek?” Stiles teased.

Derek had no intention on letting Stiles know that he’d been paying attention to him from years. “No!” he lied.

Stiles smirked like he didn’t believe him one bit. “Uh huh,” he drawled. “But anyways, I’ve been playing Pokemon since before my mom died. It was one of the only things I was still interested in after…

Derek put a hand on Stiles’ shoulder. He was pleased when Stiles softly smiled at him and didn’t shake his hand off.

“I really liked Ninetales,” Stiles continued. “It always struck me as really fascinating. I started breeding Pokemon to get a really awesome Vulpix that I could evolve into the most powerful Ninetales I could. I finally got my dream Vulpix a few years ago, and I called it Nogitsune. Kira helped with the name. She‘s been really awesome. Scotty‘s not into Pokemon, so it was nice to have a friend that I could play with. Now I can play with you, too?” he asked hopefully.

“Of course,” Derek was quick to assure him.

“Kira lent me a book a while ago on Japanese folklore so I could read about kitsunes, which Vulpix and Ninetales are based on. Kitsune are like these fox spirits and they get more tails as they increase in power.” He scrolled to the Vulpix entry in the Pokedex. “See? Vulpix here has six tails at this point.” Then he moved up one entry to Ninetales. “And when they get to nine tails, they’re practically a god and so powerful! Their fur turns golden just like Ninetales! They can even read minds! So Ninetales was an even _more_ awesome Pokemon than I could have ever imagined!”

Derek was enjoying listening to Stiles talk about the things he liked. He hoped that he’d be able to listen to him even beyond Pokemon Club or school.

“So what’s with that goofy smile on your face?” Stiles asked, poking at the corner of his mouth.

“Just enjoying listening to you,” Derek said simply.

Stiles’ face reddened. “Oh my god. You like me, even when I go on about things.” He grinned again, though this time, it was a shy one..

“I like listening to you,” Derek admitted quietly.

“You do?” Stiles asked, looking at him in awe.

“I do,” Derek affirmed.

Derek and Stiles continued to talk about other subjects, but then Stiles checked his watch. He stood up and clapped his hands together. “Okay, fellow Pokefans! It’s time for us to head out. We’ll meet again next week, same bat time, same bat channel, okay?”

There was a lot of noise as everyone got up, gathered their books and backpacks, and headed out of the class, all while talking loudly. Erica waited and looked questioningly at Derek. He wasn’t sure how to respond because while he and Stiles had some great conversations, he hadn’t yet asked out the other boy.

“You wanna head out together?” Stiles asked, Kira at his side. “We’re the last ones left.”

“Sure,” Erica said, nudging Derek into Stiles. 

Derek glared at her, but Stiles chuckled. “Whoa there, Derek. Can’t have you falling for me or you’ll hurt yourself!” And he winked at Derek.

Derek ducked his head so Stiles and Erica wouldn’t be able to see his red cheeks.

The four of them walked out of the building and toward the parking lot. Suddenly, Stiles started singing, “I wanna be the very best!”

“Like no one ever was!” Kira added, laughing.

The two continued singing the first verse of the Pokemon theme song. When they got to the first chorus, Erica joined in. It was boisterous and fun, and Derek liked listening to them

Derek finally joined in the fun just as they got to the second chorus. It was totally worth the embarrassment to see the unbridled joy on Stiles’ face.

They finished the song in a fit of laughter by the time they made to the school parking lot. “I guess this is where we all part,” Stiles said.

“It has been a blast,” Erica said. “See you all later, especially you, Derek!” she said, pointing at him with a smirk. Derek knew that she would be wanting all the details of his talk with Stiles that evening.

“Have fun, Catwoman,” Stiles said, giving her a hug.

Erica returned it, then gave a hug to Derek and Kira as well, then hopped into her little car and drove off.

“I‘ve gotta go as well,” Kira said. “Scott’s going to come to my house after he finishes up at Deaton’s, so I want to finish my homework first!”

“No prob, Kira,” Stiles said. “Say hey to Scott for me?”

Kira smiled sunnily. “Of course! It was nice talking with you, too, Derek! Are you going to keep coming to Pokemon Club?”

Derek glanced at Stiles, who was watching him with interest. “I think I might,” he said.

Kira’s eyes lit up. “That’s so cool! See you guys later!” She waved and ran to the front door of the clinic.

Stiles looked over at Derek and grinned. “So we’re gonna see more of the great Derek Hale, huh?” he teased.

“Yeah,” Derek said, grinning himself. “I have to practice so I can beat you next time!”

Stiles snorted. “Yeah, right! No one can beat me, for I am a Pokemon Master! The greatest Pokemon Master of all time!”

“That was Ash,” Derek pointed out. “Or at least he wanted to be.”

Stiles’ jaw dropped for the second time that day. “I never would’ve guessed that you watched the TV show, dude!” he crowed, delighted. “That is so awesome!” He walked up to Derek and gave him a saucy wink. “I wonder what other amazing things I’m going to find out about you.”

This was his moment. “Maybe you could find out on Friday night? Moe’s Diner at 8?” He inwardly held his breath.

“ _Yes_!” Stiles blurted out, flinging his arms around Derek‘s neck. 

Derek’s brain short circuited. _He said yes! He said yes!_ he kept repeating in his head over and over again. All he could do was smile as big as he possible could. 

Stiles laughed, but the look he sent Derek was so fond, he didn‘t even think about being offended. “You’re adorable. I can’t wait for Friday night.”

_Me, neither_ , Derek thought, feeling like he was on cloud nine.

**Author's Note:**

> Come visit me on me [Tumblr](http://stacinadia.tumblr.com/) and/or [Pillowfort](http://www.pillowfort.social/stacinadia)!


End file.
